tracks 25 & 26
by vikung-fu
Summary: Dear Jimmy, Pikala already like totally has a pika boyfriend. Get lost.


**tracks 25 & 26**

"Oh my days, this pikachu outfit is _in-sane_, my dude."

She tried to ignore him at first, she tried to ignore all boys like him whenever they tried to speak to her, she wasn't an '_idol you can meet_' or anything like that, and it had been a long journey and the day was excessive hot and the train carriage had been excessively crowded, and she was simply _not_ enjoying herself. At all.

"Hey, I really like pikachu, you know. I'm actually kind of famous for it, maybe you've heard of me and my little bro here," he gestured with a thumb to the rodent sitting on the seat next to him, a tuft of unruly hair sticking up at an angle between the ears, "his name's Spike, you know, we're on a mission to challenge the toughest pikachu trainers in the world—"

She turned sharply towards him, sighing with impatience.

"Jimmy," she said, trying to force kindness into her voice and failing, "I'm not your pika _dude_. I don't pika know you. We just met. Please be quiet."

The young boy nodded and it became sadly clear, she thought, that despite her attempts to be blunt, the meaning of what she said had not reached him, but she turned her head away and closed her eyes and hoped for the best, listening to the rattle of the train, feeling the weight of her walkman in her lap, the batteries long since dead, their power drained somewhere out along the coast as the train curved its way along the bent spine of its track towards its final destination.

It would be nice to get away, she told herself, it was important to make these little gestures, to prove that she had a life outside of endlessly livestreaming videos from Pikachu Valley, whispering softly over footage broadcast to beloved subscribers, describing the movements of frolicking pikachu in a hushed voice.

It was important to spend time with one another, she thought, to show that you were committed to a relationship, no matter how far the distance, no matter the absurdly different lifestyles you led, it was important to—

"Maybe we could hang out, you know?" he said. "Like, maybe, I could give you tips on training pikachu, oh yeah! Training pikachu is literally my favourite thing!"

She sighed and opened her eyes, turning to look at him as he gestured wildly in the air, fingers dancing, mimicking some imagined guitar solo on some imagined guitar, his pet thrashing back and forth in mock excitement or PTSD or something and she waited for him to play the scenario out, patient, tired, exhausted by the endless train journey as it rattled out from the airport towards its terminus.

It wasn't that Jimmy was necessarily a terrible person, she thought, regarding him with cool detachment, it was just his inability to read the situation, his inability to understand when his attention was unwanted.

Perhaps she shouldn't be surprised. It wasn't a fame thing, he clearly had never seen any of her streams and he clearly had no understanding of her social media presence, it was simply a _boy_ thing, just as it was simply a _girl_ thing in that boys were taught it was okay to behave in such a way and girls were taught that this was just the way things were and it was just something you had to get used to. If you were on the internet, the rate at which you had to put up with such attention doubled, not that this was true in the case of Jimmy's attempts to engage with her, and, yet, for all this, he was not the first overenthusiastic boy she had met, not by a longshot.

Perhaps she shouldn't dress the way she did had been the advice given her when first she had commented on the situation. Looking down at her outift, yellow blouse, pinafore and petticoat, it didn't seem that she was attempting to solicit attention. Oh, it's because you're eccentric, she was told, but then, she thought, given the amount of overspecialisation present in the scene she was involved in, she didn't see how dressing like a pikachu could be considered eccentric. It wasn't that weird surely, it wasn't like she had dedicated her life to becoming a bug catcher, right?

Arceus, she thought, who grew up wanting to be a bug catcher?

It took her a moment to realise that Jimmy had finished his impromptu guitar solo and was looking at her expectantly, waiting patiently for a response.

She became aware of the rattle of the train once more, aware of its sudden slowing, and with a start, she realised they were, at last, pulling into a station, the station where she was due to disembark.

Swiftly, she twisted in her seat, and sure enough, there, on the platform, blue jeans, baseball cap lowered over the eyes, a figure waited.

Politely, she smiled, pulling her rucksack up from the seat to her right as she stood up.

"Sorry, Jimmy," she said politely, though certainly not as sorry as she could have been, "I kind of already have a pika boyfriend."

Jimmy's gaze turned from her as she reached the doors of the carriage to the window that looked out on the platform, his attention instantly drawn to the figure in blue jeans and baseball cap.

"Oh, wait, is that that pikachu trainer?" he said loudly, excitedly. "Is that _that_ pikachu trainer from Pallet Town?"

His eyes scanned the platform, and then, with confusion, he realised that at the other's side was not a pikachu, but, instead, a sylveon, soft white fur and large blue eyes.

"That's not a pikachu," he said aloud as Pikala crossed from the carriage to the platform, skipping happily up to the other, throwing her arms wide.

Slow realisation dawned.

"Wait, that's not the kid from Pallet Town, that's—"


End file.
